Post DNC convention thoughts

So despite all we know (that the DNC colluded with the Clinton camp to ensure she won and screw over Bernie and the voice of the America people) I guess now I need to decide which is more important:

A) do I want to vote in defiance of the 2-party system to begin making changes in that direction since I am not FOR either presidential candidate (they are the two most unliked, untrustworthy candidates ever thrust upon the America people, why in the world do one of them deserve to win the presidency?) As long as we are restricted to two major parties we are only limited to choosing from either side of the same coin and that does not a democracy make.

or

B) is it more important to ensure the backward-thinking hate-filled agenda of Drumpf never gets any where near the White House [See for yourself: 2016 REPUBLICAN PLATFORM]? The key thing here is the appointment of several Supreme Court justices.


Let's make this 100% clear, I don't trust either candidate. I would never in million years vote for reality star, con man Drumpf. He is not anything close to resembling a presidential candidate and I tremble thinking about what circumstances currently exist in our country that would lead people to believe he should get their vote for this office. It seems to be the best way to describe this is with the old saying: 'Cut your nose off to spite your face'. He has no plan but to yell at and mock anyone that disagrees with him on any point.

On the other hand I have no desire to vote for Clinton either. Although I have not completely shut the door on voting for her if only as I said to keep Drumpf out this is only like a 20% chance. It will not be my fault if Drumpf ruins everything because I didn't vote for Hillary. It will be the DNC's for not selecting the appropriate candidate. She will say anything to get elected. I don't trust anything that comes out of her mouth despite the pressure Bernie and our revolution has put on her campaign to focus more on the America people instead of the Wall Street corporations. Does she not realize she should step down for the good of the nation? Of course not she lives with the rich people not us. She has no clue what is going on outside her little 1% bubble. How many scandals will it take? How many have we had already and the election hasn't even happened yet?


This is tough.

Cartwright Family Holiday #1 2016 is a Success!

I wrote a blog in January about my new idea for a holiday. Well I've worked on it since then and implemented my idea. I am happy to report it was a great success!!

It began with great enthusiasm that quickly turned to frustration. When I announced the idea to everyone it was a hit! Everyone liked it and wanted to get involved. When I said we need to plan something and get together etc that's when no one seemed to care.

Plan A was to go VA Beach. La was on board she was ready to rent a house for us all but unfortunately no body wanted to put up the money for it. That idea quickly fell through. I learned to not count on my sister or father in these situations. They were a great disappointment to me. (perhaps now they will bounce back since they see I'm serious and this is a successful thing)

Ale's parents were also fans of the idea and they actually scheduled their vacation to come up and see Pax around the holiday so they would be here for it. Plan B was to go to Miami since their flight was going through there. I did my research and it was doable but it would cost a lot. We decided we wanted to move out of Chuck's and build our dream house a little more than this vacation so we couldn't spend that kind of money at that time. Plan B was scratched.

Plan C was find somewhere closer that doesn't cost a lot and isn't far. We researched places like Ocean City, etc and ended up settling on Erie, PA. It met the requirements. There was a beach. It was close. There were breweries. There were bike trails. At the beginning of March we booked our room and Ale's parents booked right next to us. We were set!

I grew excited as the time approached.

On June 4th while Ale and I were in the living room all of a sudden someone poked their head in the room. Ale's family was here!

Ale and I continued to work the next week while her parent's watched, played with, spent time with Pax. They loved him. They missed him so much and he loved seeing his Abus in real life!

After we all got to see the Pittsburgh Penguins hold aloft the Lord Stanley's Cup for the 4th time in history after defeating the Sharks in Game 6 on 2016/06/12, it was time to party! First thing is first though, time to shave off this damn itchy playoff beard!

 

I still had to login to work and accomplish some things before we went on Monday but in between I was able to help get everyone packed and the car loaded. (The car's gas mileage really goes down with 2 bikes strapped to the back) Ale's parents left earlier than us because they wanted to stop at the Grove City Outlets but we met up with them around 7 pm for a fancy dinner right by our hotel. We got rooms next to each other which was nice. The whole hotel was pretty cool. I'd come back here again. No real complaints. The boy loved the pool. I know at least one day he hung with some girls staying here for several hours.


I rode my bike at Presque Isle State Park. The boy and I rented a jet ski and rode around on Lake Erie for an hour. I was able to hit 2 breweries and a bunch of other nice restaurants. We spent one day at the local water park which was fun. We got some souvenirs. I saw some turtles. We swam, we relaxed. We enjoyed our holiday vacation to the max I think and everyone was happy.

Although on Friday we headed back home we were not done yet. Saturday was the big cookout. We had to hit some stores to get a few things. I secured a sweet cornhole set for party entertainment. All our family came but I was stupid with the invitations and a lot of other people had other plans so not everyone I wanted to be there made it. I still barbecued for 13 people though so it was still nice.

Again I think the first annual Cartwright Family Holiday went well. We planned sufficiently and everything turned out great. I can't wait for next year in Asheville!

What Do You Do?

What do you do when someone continually fails you? How do you react? What do you say to them? How do you stress the importance of what you need enough to make them care? What if everything else is fine but some small stuff? What if it's something that to anyone else would seem insignificant but to you it regularly affects your life, your relationship with this person, your sanity? What if you're not good at dealing with any type of conflict? What if this person keeps coming back with the same bullshit excuses that were already dismissed as 'not applicable' a long time ago? What if they get mad at you for bringing it up? What if they constantly tell you that it's something you need to deal with on your side and not a fault of theirs at all? How many times do you need to hear that before you start to believe it? How many other things are on them that they have convinced you are your own fault? How can not living up to expectations be okay for one but not the other? How do you honestly determine where the onus goes? How can you ask for help? What do you do if issues have been discussed but they continue to happen? What if you give your all to them but you don't feel like you're receiving that back? What if you do see flashes of the caring you need but at critical times it's just not there for you? What if deep down you know where this persons head/heart is at but their actions can betray this? What if this misalignment causes such internal confusion that trust is lost? What if taking a little heat is okay for them every once in a while but it kills you? What if you can tell things don't have the same importance level to them as it does to you? How do you help them see what you see? To feel what you feel? To understand the way you understand? What if your feelings don't move them? What if it keeps happening over and over and over again? How much is too much? What if it drives you crazy and you can't get back? How do you deal with this?

What do you do?

Be Like Marc

I've been searching for a place to dump things like this and although I haven't found the best place yet at least I can start here and make updates until I find somewhere better.

Marc does not care about nor does he want to hear yours or anyone else's opinion on the following things. If he does that will immediately be deleted and ignored.

• Award shows
• Sarah Palin
• Your dog (or pet in general)
• Ted Nugent
• Kim Kardashian (or anyone associated with this family)
• That famous person that literally no one talked or cared about anymore until they just recently died
• Wendy Bell [added 2016/03/30]
• Pokemon Go

Think about how big the universe is for a second. Now come back here and read this list. You see what I'm saying? You've wasted your time just reading this much now please go do something that matters to somebody.

*I reserve the right to add anything I want to this list at any time. 

America Great

I'm sorry I just don't understand what is being asked when you hear that we need to make America great again. I have a few questions:

• What does that mean exactly? Be specific as possible.
• Why stop at America? Why not make the entire Earth great?
• How different would you be if you weren't born in America? Would you still want to make America great again if you were born in Russia or Japan or would you want to make that country great?
• Does making America great also diminish other countries? (a finite amount of greatness available)
• What has America done for you exactly that you owe it your time and effort ensuring its return to greatness?
• At what point was it great and at what point did it stop being great?
• Do we know the cause of its decline in greatness? What exactly?
• How will you know when it is great again? What measurements are you using exactly?

Thanks for your time. 

Politics 2016 part 1

The rise of Bernie and people who actually think Trump would be a good president have been fascinating me lately. I wanted to make sure I wrote down some of my thoughts during this period because believe me, there are many. I read so much and I feel I know a lot but there's still a ton of stuff out there to digest. You can't say anything on the internet because someone can always find something that contradicts what you said and no one can fact check everything. The justifications of some of my Facebook friends for endorsing Trump are downright ridiculous. There is no way in the world we can let that guy win. Although surprisingly I do match up on a lot of the issues with him the fact remains he is not a 'presidential material' type of person and this is obvious to anyone who has ever heard him speak. He is racist and a braggart and a spoiled rich bully. No matter what other circumstances there are, when you get to this part you should know to stop and write him off. For god sake's they talked about the size of their penises in the last debate. WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED TO HEAR?!? This is not supposed to be an entertainment show that's goal is the highest ratings! This is supposed to pick the next president of the United States!

On the other hand you have Bernie Sanders. I'm proud to have known about him prior to his rise in this election cycle. I will be the first to admit that he has had some slip ups and in no way do I think it's possible that he going to be able to accomplish even 50% of the things he talks about but that is not the point. The point is that he has these ideas when no one else has. The point is that these are ideas that the American people agree with and have not heard from any other candidate in a long time. The point is other civilized countries have these things going on and we do not and our standard of living is suffering because of it. People will say they are crazy but they are not. We have heard crazy for so long from everyone else that now sane is being pointed out as crazy but I repeat, IT IS NOT! The billionaires are running the show and that is a fact. Nothing else can be fixed really until that can be stopped and it's good Bernie has made that singular issue the focus of his campaign. I trust no one else to do that. I am seriously getting emotional thinking about it. I can't believe people are listening to him. I can't believe his message is getting through despite the massive media blackout on his campaign.

No matter what happens the mainstream media acts like it's been over the whole time and Hilary is a shoe-in. Bernie keeps winning though and you hear almost nothing about it. Not unless you're looking for it. It's amazing if you think about it. How can so many people be for this but you never hear anything about it? (Hint: think billionaires) Even the Democratic party themselves are crooked. You can tell Hillary has spent the last couple years dotting her i's and crossing her t's to get the proper people in the proper places to be able to handle getting her to where she wants to be. Bernie is still here even with that going on too!

I made my first 2 political donations ever to this man and I will probably give again if he can keep this up. I can't imagine a world where one of these rich, war-hawk jabronies win. It will be a continuation of the same old. Take away our rights little by little. Rich get richer. Poor get poorer. More divide. More war. More environmental destruction. Attacks on women's rights. Cops killing our citizens with impunity. I can't live like that anymore. None of us should have to.

It's not just Trump either. Everyone on the GOP side is an obvious sleazeball. Clinton is no better. She talks a good game but she is a liar. Her past actions prove that. Bernie has been nothing but consistent his entire life and it's wonderful he has the chance to give this to the world. That they are finally seeing it. I seriously can't believe he's come this far. That it's happening. He could fix everything. (At least he can start us on the path to fixing everything) This can only happen if everyone votes. The higher the turnout the better chance he has and that is obvious from what I've seen so far as well. I don't know what else to say. This may be the greatest thing to happen during my lifetime and I'm proud to be a part of it. Go Bernie! Save America! Save the world!

#FeelTheBern

Pax Is 1

Pax has turned one year old. We did it! We were able to take such good care of him that he is still alive one year later! We are super proud! I don't think I've ever been happier. Every time he looks at me I have to smile and be happy because I want him to smile and be happy too. It's a nice positive feedback situation to be in for sure. I think I have done a half decent job recording his life progress so far in my database. He will know things like; the first time he rolled over, sat up, stood, hold his own bottle, climbed the stairs, took steps, took a sip of beer, etc, etc. We also probably have 5 billion pictures and videos of him. It's ridiculous really. Everyone loves him because he is so cute. I can't wait to see how this next year pans out. What else will he do / learn? All I know is that I will do all that I can do be the best parent possible for him.